Young Robert Graham, under the influence of alcohol, accidentally kills the son of Thaddeus Parker, who is running for governor, when the man insults Robert’s date. Though sympathetic to the boy, district attorney Mark Brady, who wants to run for governor in the upcoming election, decides to go ahead and prosecute Robert. Robert is sent to prison for ten years. After six years of incarceration, Robert’s mother dies, and the boy, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, is given a special assignment by Brady, who after losing the election was appointed as the prison’s warden. Appalled at what prison life has done to the young man, Brady makes Robert his chauffeur. Robert and Brady’s daughter Mary fall in love. Robert is about to be pardoned when Runch, a stool pigeon, is murdered by Robert’s cellmate Galloway, and Brady puts Robert in solitary confinement for refusing to inform on his fellow prisoner. After enduring torture in solitary by the brutal head guard Gleason, Robert is slipped a knife with which to kill Gleason, or himself. That evening, as Robert is on the verge of going through with his plan to kill Gleason, Galloway escapes from his cell and kills Gleason himself, in retaliation for the guard’s returning him to prison for a minor parole infraction. Then Galloway confesses to the murder of Runch and is subsequently gunned down by guards who have noticed his attempted escape. Robert is reunited with Mary and they receive Brady’s blessings. More on Wikipedia
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